These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD
God made the earth and the heavens,
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth. The Hebrew х towlªdowt (H8435)] means generations, descents, lineage; and hence, as the early history of all Oriental nations was derived chiefly from the genealogical records of tribes and families, the word came by a natural transition to signify the narrative of any one's origin and pedigree. This secondary meaning it bears frequently in the book of Genesis, which, from the quarter where it was written, as well as from its being the most ancient document in the world, consists for the most part of a series of genealogical memoirs; and in the simple, artless structure of the composition, the several parts of the narrative are connected by the formula, "These are the generations," which here, and in nine other passages (Genesis 5:1; Genesis 6:9; Genesis 10:1; Genesis 11:10; Genesis 11:27; Genesis 25:12; Genesis 25:19; Genesis 36:1; Genesis 37:2), stands at the commencement of a new section. The precise relation, however, which in the present passage it bears to the context has been a subject of much difference of opinion.
It is considered by some to be (as in Leviticus 7:37; Leviticus 11:41) a codicil to the preceding chapter; and this opinion is founded on the following among other reasons: that there is no mention in the ensuing record of the creation of the heavens, while the first clause of the verse seems to be a verbatim repetition of Genesis 1:1; and also, that among the various readings of the Septuagint the word rendered "Lord" is omitted in some MSS. But others, with whose views we coincide, maintain that the formula, "These are the generations, never has a retrospective effect, but invariably serves as an introduction to the following section; and that, in addition to this consideration, the name of the Creator, who through the whole of the preceding passage was called simply "God," but here "the Lord God," is not an interpolation, there being no ground for such an assertion. In the first clause of the verse, "the heavens and the earth" denote all created objects-the universe, which originated from the creative power of God; in the last clause, "the earth and the heavens" - a peculiar phrase which occurs only in one other passage (Psalms 148:13) - signify this world and the visible heavens in relation to it.